Last weekend, seminarian Danny Baxter spoke of his own vocation to the priesthood. We learned how the Annual Appeal makes it possible for guys like Danny and our summer seminarian Christian Huebner to receive six years of seminary formation in addition to providing them with food and housing.
The Annual Appeal also helps support our religious sisters and brothers in the Office of Consecrated Life, Pro-Life ministries, Catholic Charities, and religious education programs in the parish and in Catholic schools.
Last year, we reached our goal for the Appeal. Unfortunately, since the events of the "summer of shame" in 2018, we Catholics have been inundated with reports of numerous scandals in the Church's hierarchy. It has been like a bad dream. So, why I am still going to give to the Annual Appeal this year like I have in the past? Because I want the bad dream to end. I see the good guys like Danny Baxter and Christian Hubner in the seminary who are having to stand up everyday to relatives and friends to justify why they are still willing to lay down their lives for the Catholic Church. Our young seminarians have tremendous courage to follow God's call to enter the priesthood in this day and age and I want to help them. While we are all rightly disgusted by the sins of our Church's past, please prayerfully consider giving to the Annual Appeal to invest in a better future for our Church.
God Bless,
Fr. Scott